'We were all but submerged in Falernian wine' - scene from Petronius Arbiter's The Satyricon - Credit: W. C. Firebaugh

Falernian wine was a famous wine from ancient Rome, distilled from grapes grown on the slopes of Mount Falernus on the border between Latium and Campania. Generally priced beyond the means of those outside the upper echelons of Roman society, it was primarily a drink of centurions, merchants, emperors and aristocrats. Its virtues were frequently extolled by Roman poets and scholars, including Catullus, Pliny, and Petronius. For Horace, in particular, Falernian wine symbolised the best that civilization had to offer.